


Going to Maine

by orphan_account



Category: Flesh and Bone (TV)
Genre: F/M, Incest, Sibling Incest, and its consequences, canon typical quality of life choices, hurt/comfort ish?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-21
Updated: 2015-11-21
Packaged: 2018-05-02 15:11:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5252897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Why Maine?” she asks, stalling.</p><p>“Why not? Or somewhere else, somewhere you can dance. And I can, I don't know, get a job, I guess. It doesn't matter where we go as long as it's not here.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Going to Maine

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place before the show.

“Let's go to Maine.”

“What?”

The suggestion catches Claire off guard. She turns to look at her brother. His eyebrows are raised and his mouth pulled into a half smile and he doesn't seem like he's joking.

“I'm serious Claire,” he tells her, and grabs her hand.

They're sitting on her bed, backs to the wall, legs stretched out in front of them just far enough apart to not be touching except where their clasped hands rest between them.

“Let's just go. Let's just leave pop and go be our own people, go be happy!”

He's cautiously excited, which means he really is serious. Claire keeps her face carefully neutral. Tries not to focus on his hand in hers.

“Why Maine?” she asks, stalling.

“Why not? Or somewhere else, somewhere you can dance. And I can, I don't know, get a job, I guess. It doesn't matter where we go as long as it's not here.”

He's trying to look cool, but he's begging her, she knows he is. It's only two months until he has to leave. He's scared, and she can't blame him. She catches his eyes flickering to her stomach. She's almost beginning to show and it's too late to get rid of it now, even if she could.

“You know we can't,” she tells him, looking at their hands. “Pop needs us.”

“Fuck him. He's never cared about us.”

Claire sighs and without quite meaning to leans on his shoulder. His skin is warm through his shirt.

“I don't want to leave you alone with him,” Bryan says quietly.

“I'll be fine,” she lies.

Then, more honest.

“I'm scared.”

He extracts his fingers from hers and puts his arm around her and draws her into a hug. And she feels warm and safe and for a moment he's just her big brother trying to protect her from the world. 

“We could get on a plane or a bus or something. Get outta here,” he says, but now there's a hint of disappointment in his voice.

“Be somewhere new, be free.”

He really believes they could be, she thinks, and it breaks her heart. She shrugs his arm off.

“We can't run away from everything,” she tells him.

“I know,” he sighs.

He shuffles down the bed till he's lying down, knees bent at an uncomfortable angle to keep his feet from hanging off the bed, and puts his head in her lap. 

“I love you so much, Claire,” he says, voice muffled.

“Love you too,” she tells him, but her face is colder than it should be. 

She runs her fingers through his hair and he makes a little happy groaning sound. He loves that, and it only bothers her a little that she knows this. She can feel his warm breath through her jeans and shifts uncomfortably. He doesn't seem to notice.

“Or Alaska,” he adds apropos of some thought he's forgotten to express.

“Alaska?” she asks.

“We could go to Alaska. That's far enough away, isn't it?”

“Too cold for dancing,” she argues, forcing her voice to sound happier.

“I'll keep you warm.”

She closes her eyes, because they're going warm and prickly and she doesn't need that, not now. She wonders whether him leaving will make it easier or harder. Both, probably. But maybe she can forget them, maybe she can just be a sister worried about her brother going to war. But she doesn't want that, either. She doesn't want him to go over there and get shot. She doesn't want to be alone with their father or alone with the thing that is growing inside her or alone with her feelings.

People look at them enough that she knows they suspect there is something wrong with them. She hears whispers sometimes. Mostly she can ignore them, but when it gets out she's pregnant… Well, Alaska doesn't sound so bad. She can get used to the cold.

“Could we?” she asks. “Could we just leave?”

He puts an arm around her, shifts a little so he can look up at her.

“We can,” he promises, but they both know they can't.

Or they won't. But they can dream.


End file.
